[pazmo]

Hi, I'm new in this forum. I'm moving to West Hartford and my working place would be near UConn health center. I have two kids 9 and 6 Y/O who would be in 5th and 2nd grade over there. I heard public school in West Hartford are very good but still I think there are some small differences, Could you please let me know which school district is better than the others in regards of education? I'm looking to buy a house and want to pick a place based on school area, some around border of West Hartford and Farmington.
Also I appreciate if any body knows approximate utilities' cost (water, gas, electricity, internet, TV, phone) in West Hartford for family of 4, although it's very variable but to have a rough estimation.
Thanx in advance.

[BagongBuhay]

Pazmo - all the schools in West Hartford share the same curriculum so, to your question of which was provides the best education, well ALL of them would, since they have the same requirements. I think you want an opinion of schools more than what you had posted in your OP. If you do a search on this forum using "West Hartford" as search criteria and select Search Threads, you'd find many threads on WH. There were just too many to post here. Hopefully, the info posted on those threads will answer your questions, and if not, I'm sure the good people on the CT forum would chime in.

Best of luck on your move. From one of the threads, it appears that WH homes are holding their price, and is now a seller's market together with Newington. As a former resident of WH, I feel good about that choice I made many years ago.

[JayCT]

Either West Hartford or Farmington would be good choices. Both have excellent school systems, among the best in the state. Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance test scores in these towns are high and class sizes are reasonable (around 20 students per class). You can review the sites below for more information:

Strategic School Profiles by District

Strategic School Profiles by School

I hope this helps. Jay

[CrissCT]

What school district in Cleveland are your children currently in? We lived in the Cleveland suburb of Bay Village and now live in Connecticut so maybe I can give you a comparison.

[pazmo]

My kids go to Center school in Mayfield Village. By the way how is weather comparing to cleveland? Also I heard it's prety expensive there is that so?
thanx

[AmyBergquist]

As others have stated, West Hartford and Farmington have some of the strongest school systems in the state, based on state mastery scores.

Utility costs will vary dramatically based on size of house, age of house, updates including new windows and insulation, time spent at home, etc. If you give some type of indication what size house you're looking for I can provide a general price range that you'd be looking in and then give ballpark utility estimates.

Housing prices are somewhat holding their own in West Hartford and Newington. Farmington is a bit slower, but house prices are more expensive there... Here's the most recent data for the Hartford area...



and inventory numbers...yellow is a buyer's market, no highlight is a neutral market, green is a seller's market...

[hartford_renter]

If you are talking about school systems in West Hartford:

Elementary education - I cannot differentiate much between the schools.
High School - Hall high school is better then Conord (spelling?_)

West Hartford Shools > better then Farmington Schools and Newington Schools.

If you are still undecided about where you will move, consider avon and simsbury they have very good schools too. Houses are about the same price too, as west hartford.

[CrissCT]

Originally Posted by pazmo

My kids go to Center school in Mayfield Village. By the way how is weather comparing to cleveland? Also I heard it's prety expensive there is that so?
thanx

So far, I think the weather is very similar (but we went from Cleveland to 3 years in San Diego - and now the Hartford area so I am still re-adjusting). Maybe even slightly better with a little less snow and more sunny days.

You will find it more expensive here than Cleveland (again coming from San Diego most recently, we are finding it cheaper here) - groceries, housing, taxes, utilities will all be slightly higher.

As far as the schools go, I think you will find that the better school districts here (such as the ones listed by other posters) are on par or better than the ones in Ohio. I think you would like West Hartford.

[htfdcolt]

As a former long-time Cleveland resident (Richmond Heights) who recently moved to West Hartford, I would say that WH has the look and feel of Shaker Heights, with the demographics and school system quality of Beachwood.

Weatherwise--only experienced one winter so far, but nowhere near the quantity and frequency of snow and cloudy days we used to get in Cleveland (both due to lake effect). Summer was a bit more humid...again no natural air-conditioning effect of Lake Erie...but not as bad as further down the east coast.

Would agree with the other posters re: costs of living...although again, reasonable by east coast standards unless you end up with oil heating :-(

[MikefromCT]

Pazmo -

Welcome to WH. It's a great town, but be sure to visit Farmington and Simsbury - both are great towns with wonderful scenery (Talcott Mountain / Hublein Tower in Simsbury, Main St. in Farmington with its historic homes, schools and museums, Simsbury's town center). Enjoy!